The Outspan

The Outspan was a South African weekly magazine (1927–1957), continued as the fortnightly Personality (6 June 1957 – 23 December 1965).^[1] Its subtitle was "South Africa's Weekly for Everybody". It was published in Bloemfontein by The Friend Newspapers Ltd, first appearing on 4 March 1927, and is said to have been established following the pattern of the British Everybody's, which was set up in 1913.^[2]

A cover from 1944

The 1953 book Brown's South Africa describes The Outspan as

"The most widely-read magazine published in Southern Africa. Contains a wealth of first-class fiction and special articles, mostly by South African writers; generously illustrated ...",^[3]

and the 1989 South African Family Encyclopedia says that:

"The second longest-lasting (only Huisgenoot proved more durable) and, within the English-speaking community, perhaps the best-loved of all general interest magazines, was The Outspan ...".^[4]

Contributors

Contributors are said to have included: Agatha Christie, Wernher von Braun, Admiral Donitz, Stuart Cloete, Denis Compton, Eddie Cantor, Major-General Sir Francis de Guingand, Donald Campbell, P. G. Wodehouse, Viscount Montgomery, Adolf Eichmann and Manuel Fangio.^[2]

Dorothy Kay produced two to four illustrations for The Outspan every week from 1927 to 1945,^[5][6] and Frank Bellamy published a series of illustrations in 1955–1956.^[7]

Sample contents

The 28 January 1949 issue is described^[8] as containing "pictures, articles, features and fiction".

Items included:

• "The Beautiful Madness" by Mildred Cram
• Johannesberg
• What it means to provide 3,500,000 meals a year on the railways
• Gossip about players who appear on the South African screen
• "It all happened in a crowded Durban tearoom" by June Holme
• Cricket - the Australians will bring a strong pace attack to South Africa this year
• Smuts
• "My mother said I never should" by Ann Butler